Get The Balance Right

Home-schooling, parenting and working from home – life in lockdown isn’t easy for parents. Here’s advice on how to stay sane

- Jacques Myburgh

Juggle, juggle, juggle – from the moment you open your eyes until you close them again at night it’s all you’re doing these days.

Parenting has always been hard, but lockdown and home-schooling have ratcheted the pressure up to a whole new level.

Now you’re not only your kids’ parent, but you’re also playing teacher, trying to get them to do their work so they don’t fall behind at school. And in between multiplication and long division, many people have their regular jobs that they’re now trying to do from home along with chores such as cooking, cleaning and shopping that need to be done to keep the household from falling apart.

No wonder many parents are feeling frazzled. It’s hardly surprising that tempers are starting to flare. And after that comes the guilt as you berate yourself for being a bad parent.

These are unusual circumstances, says Kobus Maree, a professor in the University of Pretoria’s educational psychology department. And when you add all the fear and uncertainty to all these other new pressures parents have to face, it’s inevitable there are going to be occasional outbursts. “It’s entirely normal to be feeling a wide range of emotions in this time. It can fluctuate between anger, disappointment, anxiety, uncertainty and a feeling of impending doom.”

But thankfully there are a few steps you can take to lighten your load so you’re not constantly freaking out.

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